Gov. Brown Signs Williams’ Anti-Animal Cruelty Bill

California Assemblyman Das Williams’ bill to protect wildlife from a cruel and inhumane death is now law.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 789 today, a bill that will put an end to many of the cruel practices used by the nuisance wildlife trapping industry.

“We must take great care with all of our animals,” said Assemblyman Das Williams. “Even so-called ‘nuisance wildlife’ deserves to be treated humanely. It is time we hold trappers to a higher standard and demand that they end their severely cruel killing practices.”

Private nuisance wildlife control operators (NWCOs) provide trapping services to consumers for a fee under the auspices of damage control. Some of these operators employ particularly egregious tactics that result in the needless suffering and death of thousands of animals each year.

The bill includes important provisions aimed at protecting domestic pets from being inadvertently killed in Conibear kill traps and outlaws the most heinous methods of animal killing, such as drowning, chest crushing, and injection with toxic chemicals such as nail polish remover.

“We share this planet with wildlife,” Williams said. “Animals cannot speak for themselves so we must speak for them and stop their torturous, slow and painful deaths.”